Martina, 5 months old, awake every 2 hours....

[Martina230413]

Hi Layla,

just to update you on my progress, I was so so happy as on friday and saturday martina's nap in the morning was pushing 1 hour 15 while the afternoon one was as long as 2.5 hours! And then it was straight to bed time around 7.30 with not much changes in the waking pattern at night (back to waking around 3 or 4 am for a feed and then again around 5-6 but i resettle her more or less successfully and she sleeps till 7-7.15) she also now wakes before her dreamfeed so it's not much of dream feed at all.
Today we had 3x45 minutes naps, I am able to push her naptime in the morning to 9.30 and her lunch time maybe to 1.15 but she is maybe a bit too tired then, will have to do gentler adjustments to have an A time of 3 hours.
Also, suddenly i'm terrified of SIDS... I had this fear too with my son, watched him like an hawk, had all sorts of monitors...didn't enjoy much the first few months I was so terrified. I was very proud with myself as I didn't have this terror with Martina, I was so much more relaxed, no monitors or other gimmicks, really loving her being small...an as of yesterday I took down from the attic the sensor pad...I wish i could rationalise that I can only do my best to make her sleep safe and just keep enjoying each day. I think it's because she has started rolling over in her cot    sorry I know this is quite OT!

[Layla]

Its not too OT... I am the same and have a video camera in J's room too. I use a sleep sac/gro bag, which makes it harder for her to roll over and because I don't use a blanket, it also keeps her warm at night.. perhaps you could invest in something like that? With the rolling over part, if she has good head/neck control, she should be ok but make sure you give her lots and lots of practice during the day too

[Martina230413]

Oh yes we only use grobags here  she has very good neck strength but she is now holding onto the bars to help herself rolling over which means she is attached to the edge of the cot stuck as she has no room to move! Also as soon as I put her down, she bends her knees and rolls to the side which is how she falls asleep. Will invest in a camera too just to see what she's up to! 

[Martina230413]

I am afraid I don't really have good news...I start feeling this is not working for us at all or I'm doing it totally wrong.

we are 5 solid weeks now on the EASY routine, she is easily on the 4h schedule for feed but in all this time she was able to fall asleep on her own twice (twice!!!), every other time I have to be there and help her to sleep. Which is fine, I don't mind it really, but I thought she would have eventually been able to do it herself.
While days are fine, nights are a complete hit and miss, again last night was up every 2 hours (crying) and needed lots of comfort to resettle. I admit I was in  tears. I'm going back to work in 10 days and dreading it. I think I can count on one hand the nights where she woke up once for her feed around 3.30-4 and every other night has been at least 2-3-4-5 wakings, every time crying. Seriously crying.

I'll write down here her current routine, but to be honest, I think I'm missing the point on how to help her settle rather than being doing something wrong with the routine. She occasionally may be OT if she skips the CN (I thought she was ready to drop it but more often than not she falls asleep while feeding if she doesn't have one!) but definitely not always, and this is why I don't know what to do.

E 7.00-7.15 am
A
E 8.15 a bit of fruit
S 9.30 am (can be 45 min or 1h45 or anything in between)
E around 11.30-12, she has root veg and fruit
A
S this sleeping time depends on when she woke in the morning, say 1 pm to 1.30 pm and she generally has the long nap here 2h
E 3.30-4 bottle
A
E 7 pm cereal and bf
S 8pm after bath, cuddles and boob

Help me please 

[Layla]

Big hugs hon....how old is she now??

[Martina230413]

Hi Layla, she is 5 and half month now, I know it's in the wonder week(s) period and maybe she is sensing I'm going back to work. We will have a nanny as I only have to go back for 6 weeks and then can take time off for another 6 weeks. The nanny is a lovely girl, she has started to come to the house when I'm there to get to know Martina and her routines. Martina is not showing signs of strangers anxiety (just read on the other board) and I'm doing all I can to avoid any separation anxiety... 

[Layla]

I still think you need to work on pushing out the A times since she's not taking the last nap as her A before bed is too long! If she's not taking the catnap, her A's really need to be around 3hrs across the day and bedtime needs to be earlier to compensate for the missed nap. If she's up from her afternoon nap around 3pm and is then awake till 8pm, that is too long of a stretch.

How do you help her go to sleep?

I think I can count on one hand the nights where she woke up once for her feed around 3.30-4 and every other night has been at least 2-3-4-5 wakings, every time crying. Seriously crying.

Also I would cut out the cereal before bed. It might be making her feel uncomfortable, which could also be causing the frequent night wakings. She really only needs milk at this stage, that is the primary source of her food. Having solids before 6 months and too much solids will put pressure on the immature gut and can cause more night wakings.

This is what I would aim for:
7am - wake and BF/bottle
8am - solids (a bit of fruit)
10-11.30 - morning nap
11.30 - wake and BF/bottle
12.30 - solids (a bit of veg)
2.30-4pm - afternoon nap
4pm - wake and BF/bottle
5.30/6pm - another BF/bottle (top up/cluster feed)
bath/bedtime routine/final BF/bottle
7pm - bed

[Layla]

How are you going?